400$ School Laptop

Whammy · Jan 27, 2014

Looking for a good 400$ CAD school laptop for a friend. She won't be doing any gaming or whatnot so no use in a GPU. I've never had a laptop nor do I plan on getting one, so I don't know laptop APU's and such that well. Also, it has to be aesthetically pleasing, or else she won't get it -.-

Thanks!

photonboy · Jan 27, 2014

I wouldn't call any $400 laptop a "CAD" computer. I would imagine the focus should be on the best CPU so perhaps an INTEL CPU solution would be best and as much RAM as possible at this price.

I also recommend an ASUS, or HP laptop. I don't like ACER. I see what's available quickly.

Whammy · Jan 27, 2014

photonboy :

I meant in Canadian dollars hahaha

And my question I guess really is geared towards the APU's available, Intel preferably of course, because I don't know which one are good and which ones are bad quality to price ratio.

jaguarskx · Jan 27, 2014

Aesthetically pleasing is subjective... and probably difficult to find in that price range. Aesthetically pleasing to me would be a Lenovo ThinkPad T series laptop with it's classic monolithic black design and sturdy enough to use it to smack someone over the head several times to cause head trauma and still be able to boot into Windows without any issues.

Here are some laptops priced between $300 and $400 CAD at Bestbuy. They may not have all or any of those laptops on display though. At least in the US, they list far more laptops on their website than they have room to display them in the store. You order the laptop and it gets delivered to a Bestbuy store of your choice so you can pick it up.

BestBuy.ca

photonboy · Jan 27, 2014

http

/www.bestbuy.com/site/geek-squad-certified-refurbished-envy-sleekbook-15-6-laptop-6gb-memory-750gb-hard-drive/2231139.p?id=1219070438654&skuId=2231139&st=categoryid$abcat0502000&cp=1&lp=4

This APU has a 4-core CPU in it. It's not as fast as the INTEL 4-core CPU's at the same frequency, however at $400 I don't think you can get more processing power from a machine and for $400 you likely only find 2-core Intel CPU's.

Yes, it's refurbished but that's necessarily a bad thing.

This model doesn't have a DVD drive, but it's the best one I could find at $400 that seems to match your requirements (CPU power, 6GB of RAM).

jaguarskx · Jan 27, 2014

The ASUS VivoBook X200CA 11.6" Touchscreen Laptop is the smallest and lightest and pretty inexpensive. But she may not like the all black look.

http

/www.bestbuy.ca/en-CA/product/asus-asus-vivobook-x200ca-11-6-touchscreen-laptop-black-intel-pentium-2117u-500gb-hdd-4gb-ram-win-8-x200ca-rh91t-cb/10274199.aspx?path=6ffb1930acc12d3533fd5a412b643c9een02

Personally, I would go with the Acer Aspire E1 14" Laptop - Silver. It is $400, but at least it should be more aesthetically pleasing than the above all black Asus. The black on silver at least provides some decent contrast.

http

/www.bestbuy.ca/en-CA/product/acer-acer-aspire-e1-14-laptop-silver-intel-core-i3-3217u-750gb-hdd-6gb-ram-windows-8-e1-470-6806/10271042.aspx?path=44c6fd43e0f81794ac350a879017d08aen02

Whammy · Jan 27, 2014

Ok, so from what was mentioned, I've narrowed it down to this one:

http

/www.bestbuy.ca/en-CA/product/hewlett-packard-hp-pavilion-touchsmart-15-6-sleekbook-black-amd-a8-4555m-750gb-hdd-8gb-ram-english-refurb-15-b153cl/10263879.aspx?path=49e7defd20f4580646e473b1becffa06en02

What do you guys think?

jaguarskx · Jan 27, 2014

Well for playing games it's probably the best for playing games, but it is a refurbished laptop so that means you only get a 90 day warranty.

photonboy · Jan 28, 2014

Whammy :

It was sold out, but I think that's the best you'll do at this price point.

photonboy · Jan 28, 2014

$500 laptop: http

/www.bestbuy.ca/en-CA/product/lenovo-lenovo-ideapad-14-touchscreen-laptop-silver-amd-a6-5200-500gb-8gb-ram-windows-8-s415-touch/10273093.aspx?path=b3672a51f35fb3a30160bf8d625ae440en02

I found it very difficult to find anything half decent at $400. Either sold out, refurbished, or a crappy product. I really had to jump to $500 to get anything fairly good.

Good luck. That's my final advice unless you luck into a good deal. *Even if you do, make sure to find a review on the model as that $400 "deal" might not seem so great if it fails a week after the Warranty.

Whammy · Jan 28, 2014

Yea 400$ isn't a lot for a decent computer, but she really doesn't need something powerful. Web browsing and school work. I guess I'll just sit around a little while until something decent comes up. Thanks guys!

Search

400$ School Laptop

Whammy

Honorable

photonboy

photonboy

Distinguished

Whammy

Honorable

jaguarskx

Champion

photonboy

Distinguished

jaguarskx

Champion

Whammy

Honorable

jaguarskx

Champion

photonboy

Distinguished

photonboy

Distinguished

Whammy

Honorable

Similar threads

TRENDING THREADS

Share this page